PLtEFA.CE TO THE SECOND EDITION. IX 



descriptions of 2,228 species. A. second edition of 

 this work was published in 1874, with an Appendix, 

 which contains the descriptions of 438 new species ; 

 thus making the total number of known ferns, as 

 identified by the Kew Herbarium, to amount to 2,646. 

 In this work Mr. Baker has, however, made consider- 

 able alterations in the nomenclature and synonyme, 

 as given in the " Species Filicum," which adds addi- 

 tional testimony to what I have stated at page 56. 

 The propriety of making such, whether right or 

 wrong, is not necessary for me to comment on here,* 

 for to do so would lead to this Appendix being much 

 enlarged, and only burden genera and species with 

 additional synonyms, which, for the sake of amateur 

 cultivators of Ferns, I deem it prudent to avoid as 

 much as possible ; it is only in a few special cases 

 that I have thought it necessary to change or add 

 synonyms to names in the original enumeration. 



I felt desirous to state the name by whom each 

 individual species was introduced, but I found this to 

 be a difficult task, and therefore deem it sufficient to 

 state, that the principal introducers were the following 

 nurserymen: — Messrs. Backhouse, York ; Bull, King's 

 Road, Chelsea; Henderson, Pine-apple Place, Edg- 

 ware Road; Jackson, Kingston; Standish, Ascot; 

 Stansfield, Todmorden ; Veitch. King's Road, Chelsea; 

 and Williams, Holloway. 



* For full particulars on this point see my " Historia Filicum," 

 a work of 429 pages, -with 29 lithographic plates, published by 

 Macmillan & Co., 1875. 



